Importing a second session in the Element Viewer

If you open the Element Viewer by clicking Element Viewer on the Windows menu, you can see everything contained in session A (the current session). All you need for conforming, though, is in the active clip (activeClip in the element tree). That's why the reference in the clipBin is to session A's active clip, and not to everything in the session.

The active clip of the current session

Whether you're importing a new shot or clip, replacing an existing shot, or replacing specific animation sets, the first thing you do when conforming is confirm that there's a reference to the active clip of session A in the Element Viewer's clipBin. The second thing you do is import session B in the Element Viewer's miscBin. Once you have both sessions represented in their respective Element Viewer bins, you can copy shots and clips from session B into session A, and you can easily preview and compare both active clips.

Note:Although you initially import a reference to all of session B, it's a good practice to work with only its active clip. This means preserving the reference to session B's active clip, and deleting the reference to the rest of session B. Doing this reduces clutter and potential confusion when you're dealing with multiple sessions in the Element Viewer.

To import a second session in the Element Viewer:

If the Element Viewer isn't already open, open it by clicking Element Viewer on the Windows menu, or by pressing F9. You may want to dock the Element Viewer next to the Animation Set Editor for convenience.

Make sure the clipBin contains the name of the activeClip of the current session (session A). If it doesn't, drag the activeClip onto the clipBin. The name of the active clip will appear under clipBin.

Right-click the miscBin, and click Import Element. In the dialog box that appears, browse to the session from which you want to copy the shot (session B), and click Open. A reference to session B now appears in the miscBin.

Expand session B in the miscBin. Drag its activeClip up one level, dropping it onto miscBin.. The name of the active clip will appear under miscBin, at the same level as the reference to session B itself. What you're doing is pulling session B's active clip out of session B so you can work with it directly, and so you can remove the rest of the reference to session B.

In the miscBin, delete the reference to session B. You don't need it now that you have its active clip in the miscBin.

References to the active clips of session A and session B in the Element Viewer

Now that you have the active clips of both sessions available in the Element Viewer, you can copy shots and clips from session B to session A, replace shots, or replace specific elements of a shot.

Note:You can import more than one additional sequence into the miscBin, but if you do, you will use more memory, and thus run the risk of compromising performance or even causing the SFM to crash. It's best to keep the number of sessions available in the Element Viewer's bins to a minimum, and to remove extra ones when you're done with them. Even importing large sessions can compromise performance.

Previewing the imported session

After you import session B in the miscBin, you can drag session B's active clip into the viewport to preview it there. After you do so, the timeline will also reflect session B's sequence. You can scrub through the sequence and otherwise manipulate it as you would session A's sequence.

You can then drag the active clip of session A back into the viewport, which will replace what you see in the viewport and the timeline with session A's sequence. This previewing feature allows you to easily compare the shots in sessions A and B.

Warning:If session A isn't referenced in the Element Viewer's clipBin, and you drag session B's active clip into the viewport from the miscBin, you can lose session A completely. Session B will essentially overwrite session A, and you won't be able to get session A back again, unless you quit the SFM without saving those changes. Remember "here be dragons?" A lot of them live here.